“Right now our focus is on the season, and if we are having talks, it’s not something I’m going to share at a weekly press conference,” Lavin said in advance of Saturday’s contest against Creighton at the Garden. “I love St. John’s, I love New York. The administration has been great. I really like this particular team, too. … The way I approach everything is the same I always have for however many years it’s been at each stop. Which is focus at the task at hand and knowing what we do today determines the type of future we have as a basketball team.

“[The administration] has always been supportive. They’ve given us the resources to be successful. My energy has always been focused on the next recruiting class, the next game, during the offseason, the upcoming season. … Like most coaches, you focus on things you have control over and the rest takes care of itself.”

Sources said the team’s success the rest of the way will play a large part in whether the 50-year-old Lavin receives an extension. New university president Conrado M. Gempesaw is a wild card, considering he just took over in July.

St. John’s has failed to reach the NCAA Tournament since Lavin’s first season — he guided a senior-heavy team of players recruited by his predecessor, Norm Roberts, to the Big Dance in 2010-11 — and at the moment, this season’s team hasn’t shown it will snap that string.

Lavin has an all-time postseason record of 2-6, one Big East Tournament victory his first year and one NIT win. Lavin only coached four games in his second year at St. John’s after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer and spent much of that season recruiting, leaving coaching duties up to former assistant Mike Dunlap.

Furthermore, next year looks to be a rebuilding season. Seniors D’Angelo Harrison, Phil Greene IV, Jamal Branch and Sir’Dominic Pointer will move on, while the other two key pieces of the core — junior Chris Obekpa and sophomore Rysheed Jordan — could opt to declare for the NBA Draft.

Lavin has secured two prospects for his crucial 2015 recruiting class in three-star Philadelphia guard Samir Doughty and top-50 Louisiana shooting guard Brandon Sampson, and is involved with a handful of other talented high schoolers, such as McDonald’s All-American Cheick Diallo of Our Savior New American (Obekpa’s alma mater) and four-star point guard Marcus LoVett Jr. of Chicago.

The Johnnies are 3-6 in the Big East (in eighth place in the league, closer to last place than first) and 14-8 overall. They have to play No. 22 Georgetown and rugged Xavier twice apiece, and visit seventh-ranked Villanova, the conference leader. St. John’s does have a solid RPI of 48 and twice has beaten Providence, which is just a half game behind the Wildcats, in addition to notching quality non-conference wins over Syracuse and St. Mary’s.

Clearly, the second half of the Big East schedule could determined a lot for Lavin and St. John’s.